Update! 3:30 EST, the Warlords of Draenor talent calculator is now updated with datamined talent changes.I was fortunate enough to be invited to Blizzard Campus to interview Technical Game Designer Chadd "Celestalon" Nervig on Warlords of Draenor. You can read the full interview over at WoW Insider, but I've created a summary for Wowhead which you can read below. Please note that while the WoW Insider transcript is just that, I have used my own phrasing here.

Timeline and the "Alpha" term

Celestalon wanted to be very clear that this was not the final set of patch notes. There's already another 5,000+ word set being created by Rygarius, as well as blogs. It's definitely not the case that these are set in stone.

Players shouldn't take the "Alpha" as meaning that Blizzard is not that far along in content, and not assume that there's a certain time period of Beta to follow.

"Alpha" more relates to how many people are being invited. Mists had a lot of people, thanks to the Annual Pass, and it wasn't necessarily the best for testing. In this Alpha, invitations are going to go a little more slowly, and ramp up steadily.

It also has to do with the new CASC file system and wanting to test certain aspects of that.

Draenor Perks

As we suspected, Draenor Perks will be learned randomly between 91 and 100. The reason for their randomness is to provide variety, and also to remove the problem of choice, and the pressure of making the wrong choice.

Draenor Perks also serve as a way for players to adapt to their new rotation in Warlords in manageable steps rather than trying to completely re-learn their class at level 100. These small changes alter the rotation as they come in, meaning players can learn as they level.

They should be considered a fun perk rather than a complete reworking of an ability, it's fun to see your character grow stronger with every level.

Battleground Balance and Ability Pruning

There is a single Battleground bracket from 90-99 and a new one starts at 100, so there shouldn't be any issues with balance from the perks.

It's not detailed in the patch notes at this point, but thanks to the ability pruning they're going to re-examine when specs get abilities and look to balance at the same time.

It will result in a much better experience, especially at low levels.

They're also adjusting the damage and healing of certain abilities, removing base damage and healing, which will massively improve scaling at low levels.

Raid Cooldown Removal from Tanks and DPS

Several of the raid cooldowns being removed from tanks are also being removed from DPS - such as Devotion Aura

The next version of the patch notes will include a section on "Stackable Raid Utility". It covers survival cooldowns for the raid.

The general philosophy is that the healers signed up for keeping the raid alive so should do most of that.

It's good for other specs to contribute to it, but some were doing too much and infringing on healers' jobs

They're lowering these raid-wide defensive cooldowns for all tanks, as it's not going to lose them their spot, but they have to be more careful for DPS

They want to balance stackable raid utility at a lower level than it is now, so everyone brings a littleWindwalkers' Stance of the Fierce Tiger's 10% movement increase will become a 10-yard radius aura for all melee to move faster

Mages will bring Amplify Magic as a raid cooldown, which increases all healing received by the raid by 20% for a short duration

Ret Paladins lose Devotion Aura, but keep all their hands apart from Salvation

Smoke Bomb's damage mitigation is reduced

Gateway is being nerfed, and Healthstones are basically just replacement health potions

Potions and Pre-Potting

Health Potions and Healthstones now heal for the same amount and share a cooldown

Health Potions and Healthstones do not put mana potions, nor agility potions, crit potions, any other potions on cooldown

Blizzard was considering removing pre-potting, but decided that players would all just use potions at the start of a fight unless there were very specific mechanics that demanded them later, so pre-potting will remain as it adds gameplay

Tanking, Vengeance and Resolve

There were various issues with Vengeance and how it altered tank behavior and damage. Tank damage varied wildly depending on the fight, with tanks either doing a lot or very little. Tanks would do counter-intuitive things like take a lot of damage to get more Vengeance.

The defensive aspect of Vengeance worked well, though, so that has been renamed Resolve and will affect only active mitigation

Tank damage is being increased, so tanks will do good damage regardless of whether they're being hit. They can expect to be a little behind a similarly skilled DPS

Different tanks will rank higher on healing meters depending on whether their active mitigation counts as healing. DKs will rank very high, Warriors won't appear, just thanks to their different ways to prevent damage. This isn't something Blizzard is concerned about.

Profession Changes in Raiding

For items such as Engineering's Rocket Boots, where they provide a considerable benefit despite not being a direct throughput buff, the current plan is to let Rocket Boots and other things like Invisibility belts be something engineers can make and sell so everyone can have them.

Things like Life Spirits and Water Spirits are currently staying in, but they are something the devs are monitoring

There is a blog coming up on how professions are being made appealing following the removal of combat bonuses

Combo Points, poisons and Agility versus other stats

The change is coming thanks to the big rework

The devs are looking to create a more dynamic gameplay experience with fewer inherent downsides to target swapping

Rogues and Ferals shouldn't expect a complete rework with this change, but it is something that requires a lot of tweaking

The impact is likely to be on their target-swapping and ramp-up, so the devs are watching this closely

Agility classes are getting a crit bonus over other classes like Strength ones because of thematic reasons, and also because that's how it always was

There is no longer an increase in crit from agility itself, just the flat 10% bonus to crit

Blizzard wanted to bring the preference for primary and secondary stats to a more level standing -- Agility always loved agility, Strength always loved secondary stats, Intellect was somewhere in between. They are looking to balance that.

More poisons are coming for rogues!

Healing changes

The low throughput low cost heals were removed as, in most cases, they're something you want to gear out of ever using

The devs do recognize that this has lowered certain healers' toolbox and are monitoring it

They want mana to matter, but they don't want that to mean you're OOM all the tome.

The equivalent of Greater Heal or Greater Healing Wave will be castable at very low mana levels as your mana regen will be far higher

Base mana regen will be like starting Mists in Throne of Thunder gear. There will be less spirit on gear, so the change from the start to the end of the expansion will be less

It will become worth the mana to cast a multi-target heal when around 2.5 players are injured, as a general rule

They want to get back to overhealing being something that players care about

Melee vs. Ranged, Casting While Moving

Melee vs. Ranged balance is an ongoing task. While it wasn't perfect, if you ignore some outliers melee vs ranged balance was pretty good in Siege of Orgrimmar.

They recognize the need to tune both encounters and classes to ensure that you need to do less DPS while moving, and also do less DPS while moving!

when you're casting-while-moving less, you care about movement more and it becomes a gameplay element you want to consider, and it also means different spells become more valuable.

Elemental Shaman were the hardest hit and are being closely monitored

If someone has an ability that obsoletes the need to worry about something they stop remembering their other abilities that they have to deal with that thing. That's the case with casting while moving for a lot of characters.

Crowd Control and CC breaks

It's OK if some classes have more CC than others. They just want to reduce the difference between the classes with the most and the classes with the least.

They want to have less CC, so if they remove too many CC breaks they'll end up where we were, so they still need most of those CC breaks. A couple will go but the majority will stay.

Ability Removal and the Problem of Iconic Abilties

There will not likely be many more abilties removed, but some may be swapped.

They're currently discussing Army of the Dead, as it's something DKs feel is iconic

Abilties which have been in the game longer or have more "Affordance" - visual impact - are less likely to be cut

A good example is the merge of Skull Banner into Recklessness as opposed to the reverse - more information over at WoW Insider.

Paladin wings are another great example of an iconic visual that the devs see the merit of and are working to retain

If people have feedback on how they love this ability and it felt awesome, that is very valuable feedback to the devs, let them know. There is still flexibility in what they're pruning and they might change it.

Comments

Comment by voreo

I still want to know how CASC will affect WoW Model Viewer. As i was wanting to get into Machinima more after WoD goes live.

Comment by Rankkor

on 2014/04/05 14:05:37

Perks should be considered a fun perk rather than a complete reworking of an ability, it's fun to see your character grow stronger with every level.

But the thing is: a flat damage increase is not really all that exciting, or fun. An example of a perk I think is great is the one for Rune Strike which makes it add a bubble to you. An example of a perk that is pretty boring is: Scourge Strike now hits harder.

How is that any different than the obsolete Spell Ranks? Spell Ranks were boring for a reason. I'd rather get new functionality baked into core skills, than flat and boring damage increases as perks.

Something like Soul Reaper having a small chance to summon a ghost to aid me in the fight. Or Crusader Strike having a chance to apply a dot.

The general philosophy is that the healers signed up for keeping the raid alive so should do most of that.

I disagree. Keeping the Raid alive is just as much the job of the tanks as it is for the healers, and I do believe both specs should share the responsibility of keeping everyone protected. This is why Blood DKs have bloodworms, or why paladins have Hand of Sacrifice. We do more than just grab a boss and be a sponge for damage. Its our job to be the wall between death and other people. And I am saddened that this part of the job is now exclusive to healers.

Health Potions and Healthstones now heal for the same amount and share a cooldown

hmm, does this means there will only be one type of health pot now? Or (and I think this is the more likely option) All health pots will heal you for 20% HP but to keep the different types, they only work within a certain lvl range (Like from 85 to 90)

Aww man :S I Ditched my mining, and got blacksmithing (at a great expense I may add) just so I could get those perks. Bummer.

For items such as Engineering's Rocket Boots, where they provide a considerable benefit despite not being a direct throughput buff, the current plan is to let Rocket Boots and other things like Invisibility belts be something engineers can make and sell so everyone can have them.

Wait a minute, hold it, hold hold hold. You mean to tell me. That engineering. Will actually. Be able.To make PROFITS?

O_O the world has gone mad (not that I'm complaining =D I'm pretty thrilled about this)

Melee vs. Ranged balance is an ongoing task. While it wasn't perfect, if you ignore some outliers melee vs ranged balance was pretty good in Siege of Orgrimmar.

Uhuh, Malkorok, Thok, and Garrosh say Hi.

They're currently discussing Army of the Dead, as it's something DKs feel is iconic

I hope they reconsider. I get that they're trying to remove DPS cooldowns. I get that, I really do. I may not agree with it, but I understand what they're trying to do. And I also understand that this is not really a "nerf" because everyone is losing a lot of DPS cooldowns, its not just us. I understand that completely.

But they're going the wrong way about it. I would rather a million times they removed my Pillar of Frost, Dark Simulacrum, and Empowered Runic Weapon ANY TIME OF THE DAY, than remove my army and ghoul.

The whole point of being a DK, is to control a host of undead at your command. I would rather they reworked how army functions, lower the cooldown and damage, and add unique spec-specific mechanics to it, and make it a 3-5 min CD, and rework how the ghoul works for frost, and make THAT our 1-2min CD, and get rid of the rest.

Come on, Pillar of Frost (boring AP increase.... yay?) vs COMMANDING AN ARMY OF UNDEAD WARRIORS AGAINST MY ENEMIES? Please tell me which one is even remotely more exciting and fun.

Comment by Scilic

on 2014/04/05 14:09:04

"Draenor Perks

As we suspected, Draenor Perks will be learned randomly between 91 and 100. The reason for their randomness is to provide variety, and also to remove the problem of choice, and the pressure of making the wrong choice."

Removing the problem of choice.... last time I knew choosing or having choice wasn't really a "problem"

Comment by Maerlim

on 2014/04/05 14:27:56

I liked this guy.Tbh i'd like if some core mage abilities like blizzard and fire blast were avaliable to all specs. We have these since vanilla! We don't want homogenization, but neither mono-thematic specs. I want to be able to kite using frost spells as fire/arcane, for instance.It should also be noted that Frostjaw is in a strange position now that shatter is Frost-only again. It's a silence, but weren't you guys reducing interrupts? We already have one.Other lame talents i'd like to see reworked: Ice Ward and Flameglow.Observation: Evanesce is really a defensive talent placed on a mobility tier.

Comment by oliviadgrace

on 2014/04/05 14:41:54

"Draenor Perks

As we suspected, Draenor Perks will be learned randomly between 91 and 100. The reason for their randomness is to provide variety, and also to remove the problem of choice, and the pressure of making the wrong choice."

Removing the problem of choice.... last time I knew choosing or having choice wasn't really a "problem"

There's more detail on this on the WoW Insider transcript -- he explains this well.

Comment by guitar92

on 2014/04/05 18:37:38

Blizz put cds like Shadow Blades in MoP just to remove it in WoD and removing key cds like Rapid Fire and Army we gonna depend only on Bloodlust in a fight now or are you gonna remove that also ? .....

Comment by DevilesDog

on 2014/04/05 21:19:18

Mages will bring Amplify Magic as a raid cooldown, which increases all healing received by the raid by 20% for a short duration

SWEET ZOMBIE JESUS

Comment by yuyang0224

on 2014/04/05 22:42:34

On what basis does the develop team decide one class should have more CC while another one has less? For example, remove Blind of Light, a 2 min cc of paladin, a class only with modest ccs, while classes like warrior and rogue who have the most powerful cc abilities untouched.

When talking "other role should not usurp healer's duty to secure the survival of raid member" and removing lots of certain ability from non-healer role, like Devotion Aura of RET and PRO, what is the logic to add Amplify Magic for mage?

Comment by Azrile

on 2014/04/05 23:28:09

As always, whenever the devs give a really nuts-n-bolts type interview, I am glad they are developing the game and not forum posters.

Comment by DevilesDog

on 2014/04/05 23:40:17

what is the logic to add Amplify Magic for mage?

Because Mages brought the least to a raid (TW does not count as everyone and their dog can bring Hero), Pallys still have hands. Pallys still bring a lot of off-healing (especially prot), and Mages had Amplify Magic before Cata so re-adding it is the better way to say it, but take into account this is still an Alpha so stop getting butthurt over information that is liable to change in the blink of an eye.

Who knows, AM might change to affect damage instead of/as well as healing (like it used to)

Comment by Xinfinity

on 2014/04/06 06:37:37

Hopefully at least Unholy gets to keep Army of the Dead. Mass Animate Dead seems more appropriate for them than for Blood if it has to be limited to a single spec, even if the taunting doesn't make any sense.

Comment by yuyang0224

on 2014/04/06 07:08:42

Because Mages brought the least to a raid (TW does not count as everyone and their dog can bring Hero)

Who knows, AM might change to affect damage instead of/as well as healing (like it used to)

Does make a point, but I believe the one who bring least benefit to raid is hunter, even rogue has smoking bomb.

Should they make AM affect damage, it would totally contradict the philosophy develop team claim and actions they took, like removing banners from warrior, totem from shaman.

Comment by DevilesDog

on 2014/04/06 08:28:38

Because Mages brought the least to a raid (TW does not count as everyone and their dog can bring Hero)

Who knows, AM might change to affect damage instead of/as well as healing (like it used to)

Does make a point, but I believe the one who bring least benefit to raid is hunter, even rogue has smoking bomb.

Should they make AM affect damage, it would totally contradict the philosophy develop team claim and actions they took, like removing banners from warrior, totem from shaman.

Hunters can bring every buff in the game and they have the no interrupt and cast on the move niche, that's their thing :P

When I said affect damage by using the old AM mechanic it also reduced healing taken, so it had it's drawbacks on certain fights ^^ I'd prefer that over a straight damage boost

Comment by bromil

on 2014/04/06 10:31:18

"Draenor Perks

As we suspected, Draenor Perks will be learned randomly between 91 and 100. The reason for their randomness is to provide variety, and also to remove the problem of choice, and the pressure of making the wrong choice."

Removing the problem of choice.... last time I knew choosing or having choice wasn't really a "problem"

No, the problem is when a portion of the playerbase proclaims what the "correct" choice is and that there's something wrong with anyone who chooses the alternatives.

Comment by pipopoke

on 2014/04/06 12:54:33

at first I thought it was a MAD article...

Comment by emdmattuk

on 2014/04/07 15:37:49

who care if someone thinks I've picked the wrong perk? Thats their problem not mine

Comment by Azrile

on 2014/04/07 21:39:43

who care if someone thinks I've picked the wrong perk? Thats their problem not mine

And who cares about what order you get something that is barely going to affect anything. By the time you are 99, you will have them all. It is not like talents where you have to make a real choice.

It is cool that they are trying something new though.

Comment by Entrophius

on 2014/04/09 20:39:39

So, some death knights (blood with the current notes) can raise an army of ghouls, but they can't raise a single ghoul at a time? that's just stupid...

Comment by Kaelgan

on 2014/04/15 03:19:19

at first I thought it was a MAD article...

heh. All these nerfs are pissing me off and Chadd just sits there saying, "What, me worry?"

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